A Paradox?

MjolnirPants

11th June 2008 - 03:37 PM

Pardon the yellin, I copied n pasted it

I figured it out quite soon, an I can tell ya it's pretty simple, but not obvious...

CODE

3 MEN GO INTO A MOTEL.
THE MAN BEHIND THE DESK SAID THE ROOM IS $30,
SO EACH MAN PAID $10 AND WENT TO THE ROOM.

A WHILE LATER THE MAN BEHIND THE DESK REALIZED
THE ROOM WAS ONLY $25, SO HE
SENT THE BELLBOY TO THE 3 GUYS' R OOM WITH $5.

ON THE WAY, THE BELLBOY COULDN'T FIGURE OUT
HOW TO SPLIT $5 EVENLY BETWEEN 3 MEN,
SO HE GAVE EACH MAN A $1 AND
KEPT THE OTHER $2 FOR HIMSELF.

THIS MEANT THAT THE 3 MEN EACH PAID $9 FOR THE ROOM,
WHICH IS A TOTAL OF $ 27,
ADD THE $2 THAT THE BELLBOY KEPT = $29.

WHERE IS THE OTHER DOLLAR

Hint, it ain't a linear version o the jigsaw paradox.

buttershug

11th June 2008 - 04:45 PM

I read this one a long long time ago.

Once a talk radio host had an hour show using it. It was amazing the calls he got even from accountants. Although he must have had his screener screen out the callers that got the riddle.

I'm curious as to what answers people on here will give.

prometheus

11th June 2008 - 04:55 PM

The room wasn't $27, it was $25

They paid $30, got given $5 in change and gave the bellboy a $2 tip. Therefore they paid $ 28/3 or $9.33, not $9

MjolnirPants

11th June 2008 - 05:06 PM

QUOTE (prometheus+Jun 11 2008, 04:55 PM)

The room wasn't $27, it was $25

They paid $30, got given $5 in change and gave the bellboy a $2 tip. Therefore they paid $ 28/3 or $9.33, not $9

I know fer a fact yer a damn smart one, but I'm a bit surprised here that ya got it wrong.
Say all three men had only the ten bucks they paid for the room.
At the end o the night, they'd each end up with 1 dollar, not 67 cents, meanin they each paid out 9 bucks, jes like the riddle says.

It ain't a math problem, per se.

<Max>

11th June 2008 - 05:09 PM

QUOTE (prometheus+Jun 11 2008, 04:55 PM)

Therefore they paid $ 28/3 or $9.33, not $9

Each of them paid 25/3$ for a room and 2/3$ to bellboy.

<Max>

11th June 2008 - 05:13 PM

QUOTE (MjolnirPants+Jun 11 2008, 03:37 PM)

CODE

THIS MEANT THAT THE 3 MEN EACH PAID $9 FOR THE ROOM

No. It's the room+tips.

QUOTE

CODE (->

QUOTE

WHERE IS THE OTHER DOLLAR

The "other dollar" never existed.

MjolnirPants

11th June 2008 - 05:42 PM

QUOTE (<Max>+Jun 11 2008, 05:09 PM)

The "other dollar" never existed.

LostInThought

11th June 2008 - 06:06 PM

QUOTE (MjolnirPants+Jun 11 2008, 03:37 PM)

THIS MEANT THAT THE 3 MEN EACH PAID $9 FOR THE ROOM,
WHICH IS A TOTAL OF $ 27,
ADD THE $2 THAT THE BELLBOY KEPT = $29.

Silly, you don't add the $2 that the bellboy kept, that 2$ is already part of the $27 that they paid out. $25 to the hotel, $2 to the bellboy. That leaves the $3 that they got back from the original $30. You tried to trick me by counting the bellboy's $2 twice!

FOR SHAME!!!

"THEY"

11th June 2008 - 06:08 PM

Hey Smarty Pants, what I really want to know is what these 3 men were doing in a $25 hotel. Sounds like a pay per hour room to me..........

<Max>

11th June 2008 - 06:11 PM

QUOTE ("THEY"+Jun 11 2008, 06:08 PM)

Hey Smarty Pants, what I really want to know is what these 3 men were doing in a $25 hotel. Sounds like a pay per hour room to me..........

And what for did they pay 2$ to bellboy?

prometheus

11th June 2008 - 06:36 PM

Yeah, made a mistake there. They paid $10 each and the room was $25 which means they paid $8.33 each. the change was $5 or $1.67 each, they each kept $1 and gave $0.67 to the bellboy making $2.

gmilam

11th June 2008 - 06:37 PM

Each man paid $9 for a total of $27.

$25 for the room and an unauthorized $2 tip to the bell boy.

My granddad told me this one when I was a lad of about 8. It took me until I was 10 to figure out that there wasn't any missing money.

40 years later and there's still people looking for the lost dollar.

MjolnirPants

11th June 2008 - 07:08 PM

QUOTE (<Max>+Jun 11 2008, 06:11 PM)

And what for did they pay 2$ to bellboy?

Ya don' wanna know...
Trust me...

gmilam

11th June 2008 - 07:30 PM

QUOTE (prometheus+Jun 11 2008, 01:36 PM)

Yeah, made a mistake there. They paid $10 each and the room was $25 which means they paid $8.33 each. the change was $5 or $1.67 each, they each kept $1 and gave $0.67 to the bellboy making $2.

Wouldn't that be 8.3r and .6r respectively...

Thereby giving the bellboy a tip of 1.9r?

prometheus

11th June 2008 - 08:38 PM

QUOTE (gmilam+Jun 11 2008, 07:30 PM)

Wouldn't that be 8.3r and .6r respectively...

Thereby giving the bellboy a tip of 1.9r?

In terms of pure numbers yes, but that's a whole nasty can of worms to open in the light of the 0.9r thread, and 1.9r = 2

vkamath

12th June 2008 - 12:51 AM

The Hotel has $25
The Bell boy has $2
The 3 men have $1 each.

25+2+3=30

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